Jogging

I'm new to the game but still manage to run for at least 30mins without HAVING to stop.

I have known that you should warm up and cool down for activity but how does 'jogging' (I keep reading about 'jog to cool down') work for this? As far as I am concerned that is what I am doing during my run??!!

I used to just strech then go out and run 4 miles then stretch again but I started having trouble with the dreaded itb's. Now i stretch , then "jog" then stretch again then run then jog to cool down then stretch

Its knocked possibly a mile off my distance but when your knees hurt .....

Still having said that i havnt been out for 2 weeks , first week was working up to a TA course that I didnt want to carry an injury for and last week was due to blister, so hopefully if I can get my traiers on tonight I will be out tonite on my new grass course

I think you have to accept that the general terms jog and run are very flexible in their application, so my jog may be your walk.

personally I use brisk walking to and from my "run" which tonight was at 10 mins a mile for 3 miles. I will now do 5 mins of stretches every hour of so between now and going to bed, I also broke the work day up with 3 or 4 walks and stretches since I was stiff from Sundays run.

Hi G4I agree with you about the jog to warm up! I tend to stretch for around 10 mins and then just start jogging and at the moment also do around 30mins. I would say my pace is the same thoughout so there is no distinction between jogging and running! I imagine if we did some speedwork to increase our overall pace then we could start with a gentle jog and build up to running.

I certainly understand what you mean. When I started running again in Jan, my fastest speed was also my slowest speed. So cool down meant walk.

Having failed to do it, and paid the price in stiffness from time to time, I now try to remember to!

The odd thing is, having now struggled to train for 8 months almost, I can now cool down while jogging! I strongly suspect it is equally a matter of having discovered even slower ways of running, than a terrific improvement in general fitness.

I do however vary my pace when running shorter distances (3m). Faster, yes, but also slower. Probably in the beginning I was too self conscious to jog really slowly. If however, you jog really slowly in between relative spurts, you don't feel so silly doing it, and you learn how.

I find that I have a natural warm-up, as my house is in a dip, and I can't go anywhere without having a short sharp climb. It may be cheating, but I walk to the top of the climb, stretch, then start running. As I'm still fairly new to running, I think that starting off with a sharp climb would probably ruin the rest of the run for me (that's my excuse anyway!). Also, I try to run for 30 mins, and fairly often that doesn't quite get me home, so I walk the rest of the way to cool down.Saz

No, it's not cheating. I walk to the top of my hill too, then slow jog the gentle incline, then start to run on the downhill at the end of that. By the time I get to the flat section, I'm warmed up well. The twice I tried to run the hill first, I nearly collapsed at the top of the gentle incline, and felt cr@p for the first 2miles of the run. As long as you walk briskly enough to get slightly out of breath, it's as good as a jog warm up.

Just a little concerned by a couple of replies saying that they stretch, then run. Our advice would always be to stretch only after a few minutes of warm up - be that a jog or walk. The reason: You shouldn't really stretch cold muscles. When I asked someone about this once they said "Think about Blu Tac!" So, think mabout Blu Tac. If you take a piece of cold BT and stretch it, it snaps. warm it up in your hand for a bit, then pull it and it stretches much further before it breaks. Same thing applies to muscles.

As for the cool down jog, this is particularly useful after fast running, as it helps flush waste and lactic acid ffom your muscles and helps them relax after all the hard work you've been doing.

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